WILLIAM EARL DUNCAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by finding him competent to proceed 'with sentencing despite the uncontested testimony of two experts that he was incompetent. The State concedes error and asks this Court to remand for resentencing following a new competency hearing. See Gore v. State, 24 So.3d 1, 10 (Fla.2009) (holding that a determination of competency should be supported by competent and substantial evidence). The trial court should not find a defendant competent where the record provides no reason to reject overwhelming and uncontested expert testimonies to the contrary. Poynter v. State, 443 So.2d 219, 220 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). Accordingly, we reverse the appellant’s sentence and remand for resentencing following a new competency hearing. New mental health evaluations should be performed prior to the hearing as the ones at issue are now over a year old. In re Commitment of Reilly, 970 So.2d 453, 455-56 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007) (holding that a six-month old report was too stale to support a finding of present incompetence). We need not address the second issue raised by the appellant as it is now moot.
REVERSED and REMANDED for re-sentencing.
WOLF, ROBERTS, and RAY, JJ., concur.
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State v. Bowman, 123 So. 3d 107 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013)…uirements. However, a trial court’s opinions that the lowest permissible sentence is too harsh, or that the severity of the sentence is not commensurate with the seriousness of the crime, are prohibited grounds upon which to depart. State v. Sigmen, 115 So. 3d 1121 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (lowest minimum sentence “too harsh;” without any factual finding to support lack of proportionality, not a valid mitigator); State v. [*110] Thompkins, 113 So. 3d 95 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013); see also State v. Baker, 498 So. 2d 1031…
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Washington v. State, 162 So. 3d 284 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015)…ter v. State, 660 So. 2d 244, 248 (Fla.1995) (citations omitted). “The trial court should not find a defendant competent where the record provides no reason to reject overwhelming and uncontested expert testimonies to the contrary.” Duncan v. State, 115 So. 3d 1121, 1121 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013). Additionally, “the trial court’s focus must be on the defendant’s mental state at the time of the proceeding in question, not at some time in the past, and stale mental health reports will not support an adjudication of in…
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Alton Hartzog v. State, 133 So. 3d 570 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)…r-old diabetic survivor of vascular surgery, Mr. Hartzog’s chances of living another five or ten years were not taken into account. We have addressed the use of outdated mental health evaluations in other legal contexts. We said in Duncan v. State, 115 So. 3d 1121, 1121 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013), for example, that “[n]ew mental health evaluations should be performed prior to the [competency] hearing as the ones at issue are now over a year old.” There we cited to In re Commitment of Reilly, 970 So. 2d 453, 456 (Fla…
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- Gore v. State, 24 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2009)
- Frost v. State, 970 So. 2d 453 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007)
- Poynter v. State, 443 So. 2d 219 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)